Taiwan Today

Although Cuckoos' Nest was the launching pad for a cottage animation industry in Taiwan, few of the spinoff independents are clones. The strongest of the offspring studios have lean Taiwan operations and seek their own niche. Like James Wang, many owners dream of founding a vibrant Chinese animation industry. Several are focusing on mainland China, but strategies vary. Taiwan has about a dozen animation studios, and Wang Film has been a major catalyst in their development. Although James Wang is first a businessman, he has a reputation for creativity and a hawk's eye for quality. In addition to the local personnel trained by Wang and his senior staff, there is a steady flow of top professionals from Hollywood and other leading studios to Cuckoos' Nest. Many studios dispatch technical experts for on site monitoring of all contract work. The result is constant tutoring and training. As is typical for Taiwan enterprises, employees have left Cuckoo's Nest to set up their own companies. Senior animators head out to do their own thing and set up their own studios, perhaps employing only two or three other artists. These companies rely largely on bouts of overload work from Wang Film and on the government's growing use of cartoons for public service and education. Other companies are much larger, having landed overseas contracts based on the quality of the work they have done for the local market. Government and contract work are proving essential in acquiring the equity and experience needed to launch these businesses into full production. Bobby Hsieh (謝台春) launched Hung Long Animation in 1986. Although a number of his employees were trained at Cuckoos' Nest, Hsieh was never part of the Wang team. He apprenticed with a leading Japanese animation studio for two years. Soon after Hung Long was launched, it had grown to more than two hundred employees doing a mix of local government and overseas contract work. Then two cold realities hit. On the global front, Taiwan's high labor costs started locking the studio out of overseas contracts. At home, there wasn't enough work in the market, government or otherwise, to keep all the company's employees on the payroll. Like Wang Film, Hung Long started cutting staff in Taiwan and hiring in mainland China. Since 1992, the company has downsized to a management nucleus of eight employees in Taiwan. Most drawing, painting, and several other functions are done by freelancers working on project contracts. The studio also assisted groups of former employees in setting up workshops. These are called first when work comes in. About seventy of these small operations are currently under contract. Hung Long also opened a studio in Suzhou, a major urban center in China's Yangtze valley. All work done there is for export. A staff of 380 do the drawing and painting by computer menu. The staff includes about thirty Taiwanese and overseas trainer-supervisors. Although the Suzhou staff still require more training after their 18-month startup, the studio is confident it can meet Warner Brothers or Paramount standards. Administrator Melinda Hsieh (謝台美) says the mainland facility already has full production capability. While Suzhou helps keep the studio in the overseas contract market, it will also provide cash flow for its three-year computerization program in Taipei. Going high-tech and into full production is the long-term goal. Hsieh views computerization as critical, but like many artists, he feels some hand drawing and design can never be replaced by machines. Unlike Cuckoos' Nest, the company will continue to produce for the local market, which brings in a critical 30 percent of its income. Lin Shih-jen (林世仁) was Wang Film's top animator when he left to open Atlantic Cartoon five years ago. Lin has specialized in government commissions for children's animation. Now, with funding from his family, he is starting to convert from two-dimensional to three-dimensional cartoon animation. Within five years, he hopes to launch Taiwan's first feature-length cartoon with 3-D characters, like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, and 3-D backgrounds adopting the technology used in the cartoon Aladdin. His studio has already produced a 3-D television advertisement. Lin is counting on the traditional 2-D market demands of local government and Taiwan's expanding cable television market to bring in business during the transition. Although 3-D is considered too expensive for most markets, he is pioneering a combination of 2-D and 3-D products in Taiwan for the elite end of the television commercial market, as well as for specialty markets like television program titles and credits. His strategy is to grow with the market. Lin says contract work for the big studios is history in Taiwan, and he is not interested in using lower-cost mainland labor to extend that history. When Atlantic Cartoon enters mainland China it will be with 3-D products, although according to a recent market survey, Lin found the mainland market is still not sophisticated or affluent enough for 3-D production. But when it's ready, he plans to be there. Bin Chuang (莊正彬), like Lin, spent ten years with Wang Film before starting Colorkey Productions. Because a studio based in mainland China was critical to getting overseas contracts, Chuang opened a joint-venture in Nanjing a month before setting up business in Tai wan. The Nanjing studio now has sixty workers drawing and painting by computer menu. Nanjing's attractions included an art school and lower wages than nearby Shanghai. The core staff of eleven in Taiwan do the project management, creative design, photography, editing, and super vision. By keeping its Taiwan overhead low, Colorkey is able to enter the overseas contract market when others are backing out of it. Moreover, because of the cut backs at Wang Film, Hung Long, and others, Chuang can rely on contracting skilled local artists on a project basis to do his Taiwan-based government work. Chuang plans to do overseas contracting and government work until he builds up a profitable full-production business. At this stage, government and overseas contract work go hand in hand. Contracts from the world's big studios groom technical efficiency and build awareness of export standards. But it is rigidly controlled factory work. The beauty of most government contracts is that they demand that the local studio do all phases of production, including creating characters, backgrounds, and scripts. The combination helps round out a studio's skill base. Like Hung Long, Colorkey wanted to be in mainland China early. The company has found that by starting with con tract work it was able to launch the step-by-step skill acquisition needed for future full-production ability. With the Nanjing studio bringing in money, Chuang is now scouting for co-production partners for half-hour animated television program. Lin, Hsieh, and Chuang are all pace setters in Taiwan's animation industry. All share James Wang's dream of creating a Chinese animation industry. Although Wang must be proud of the entrepreneurial skills that are flourishing since he introduced animation to Taiwan, part of him may now envy the lean flexibility of these younger studios, something his own mega studio has outgrown. •